1770. That's how you do it © Bruce Goodman 25 March 2020

Neville was destined to become a famous novelist. Thus far he hadn’t had anything published. In fact he hadn’t quite finished his first novel. It needed tweaking. There was a reason for his not having finished. Neville became so attached to his characters that he refused to kill any of them off. Thus the pages of his masterpiece gathered more and more characters. They overcrowded the pages. If they had existed outside the novel, and lived in the same house, there would be one hell of a queue outside the bathroom. Honestly, by the time he got down to the fourth generation he should have killed great grandpa off. But no! Great grandpa was arthritic and senile and very much alive. Eventually he submitted his tome to an editor. “There are too many characters,” the editor said. “Kill some of them off. It’s easy; just cross a few out. That’s how you do it.” “I know, I know,” said Neville. He left the editor’s office with a heavy heart. He began the long walk home. Who to kill off? And how? He was so engrossed and desolate that he failed to notice where he was going and got run over by a truck. That’s how you do it. Contact Author Back to Still More Stories Index Next Story Previous Story